Pre-Engineered

Materials & Structures

A Brief Course on Prefabricated Materials for Architectural and
Structural Use
 Engineered Wood
Engineered wood boards are generally made from the same hardwoods and
softwoods used to manufacture lumber, but mixed with additives like adhesives.
This type of wood often utilizes waste wood from sawmills, and are treated
through chemical or heat processes to produce wood that meets size
requirements that are hard to find in nature.
Engineered wood is used in a variety of applications, from home construction
to commercial buildings to industrial products.
 Popular Types of Engineered Wood
1. LAMINATED VENEER LUMBER
Made of wood veneers that are compressed together with resins and glues,
LVL is a high density engineered wood product used in framing. LVL is very
strong, but has only one strength axis, because its veneers are stacked with the
grain running in the same direction. This means you can only load LVL in one
direction.
 Popular Types of Engineered Wood
1. LAMINATED VENEER LUMBER
 Popular Types of Engineered Wood
2. LAMINATED STRAND LUMBER
Made of small strips of wood—strands—that are placed in a dense, angled
pattern, LSL is a high quality engineered wood product that can be an even
higher density and stronger than LVL. It is composed of about 95% wood
fiber and 5% resin. LSL is very resistant to weight and torsion because of the
angled pattern in which the wood strips are placed. LSL is also expensive—it’s
about 3x the cost of dimensional lumber.
 Popular Types of Engineered Wood
2. LAMINATED STRAND LUMBER
 Popular Types of Engineered Wood
3. ORIENTED STRAND BOARD
This type of sheet wood is formed by combining wood strands or flakes with
adhesives and then compressing them. It is manufactured in wide mats and is
good for load-bearing applications such as flooring and roof decking. All OSB
isn’t created equal—some is sanded (like Advantech or Legacy premium
subfloor), and other boards are not. Some OSB is moisture resistant, other
boards are not. Make sure that you are using premium grade OSB if there’s any
chance of it experiencing weather.
 Popular Types of Engineered Wood
3. ORIENTED STRAND BOARD
 Popular Types of Engineered Wood
4. PLYWOOD
A sheet wood manufactured from thin layers (or “plies”) or wood veneer that
are glued together. Plywoods have several benefits to builders, since they are
made by binding resin and wood fiber sheets to form a composite material
whose “cross graining” property provides dimensional stability and makes the
strength of the panel consistent in all directions.
 Popular Types of Engineered Wood
4. PLYWOOD
A plywood sheet has two face veneers, so if you see a sheet graded as “AB” that means it is A-quality
on one side and B on the other.
• A: This is the highest quality plywood with a smooth surface free of knots and repairs.
• B: This grade is largely free of knots, though some tight ones (under 1 inch) are acceptable.
• C: C grade plywood may include knots up to 1.5 inches and knotholes under 1 inch.
• D: The lowest grade can have knots and knotholes up to 2.5 inches. In general, any defects have
not been repaired with D grade plywood.
• X: An X is used to indicate exterior plywoods. A grade of CDX would mean a plywood is C
grade on one veneer, D on the other, and designed for outdoor use.
 Popular Types of Engineered Wood
4. PLYWOOD
 Popular Types of Engineered Wood
5. MEDIUM DENSITY FIBERBOARD (MDF)
MDF is made by breaking down hardwood and softwood pieces into fibers,
which are combined with wax and resin binders, and formed into panels by
applying high temperatures and pressure. It is usually more dense than
plywood, and is more dense than oriented strand board, but just like OSB, there
are grades that can withstand water and weather and other grades that cannot.
 Popular Types of Engineered Wood
5. MEDIUM DENSITY FIBERBOARD (MDF)
 Popular Types of Engineered Wood
6. CROSS LAMINATED TIMBER
This wood panel product is made from gluing together layers of solid sawn
lumber. It is strengthened by layering each board perpendicular to the next and
glued on the wide faces of each board. The thicknesses of the panels can easily
be increased, which makes it a design-flexible material. It can be a good
insulator, since it’s made of multiple layers of wood.
 Popular Types of Engineered Wood
6. CROSS LAMINATED TIMBER
 Wood Composite
Wood composite is manufactured from a variety of materials. They usually
contain the same woods that are used in lumber, but they are combined to
make them stronger and more durable. It is also known as engineered wood.
Wood composite is a mixture of several components that may include wood,
plastic and straw. The particles and fibers from different woods are combined,
and adhesives keep them bound together. A veneer is often applied to the
outside in order to make the composite wood appear more attractive.
Wood Composite
 Wood Composite:
Composite Decking
Composite decking, also referred
to as wood-plastic composite
(WPC) decking, is gaining
popularity as it conserves natural
wood and is environmentally
friendly.
 Wood Composite:
Wood Plastic Composite
• Wood plastic composite is panel or
lumber product made from recycled plastic
and small wood particles or fibers. Wood
plastic composites are relatively new
products as compared to the long history
of natural lumber or traditional wood
composites such as particleboard or
fiberboard.
 Wood Composite:
Types of Composite Decking
Solid Composite Decking
Solid composite boards are heavy boards
used commonly to make permanent
floors for houses, offices, and hotels.
Solid composite deck boards are strong
and durable. They are used for
swimming pool decks, pathways of
houses, etc.
 Wood Composite:
Types of Composite Decking
Hollow Composite Decking
Hollow composite decking boards or
blank composite boards are
lightweight decking materials often
used for installing cables, cladding,
siding, etc. They are less resistant to
impacts. They require caps or fascia
boards on their edges.
 Wood Composite:
Types of Composite Decking
Capped Composite Decking
Capped composite deck board consists of a
core and a cap. The core is made from organic
wood filler and recycled plastic material, while
the cap is made from a synthetic material to
increase the resistance to stain, scratch, and
discoloration.
Capped composite boards are used for garden
areas, swimming pool decks, outdoor pathways,
etc., for areas exposed to extreme wear and tear
or weather conditions.
Wood Plastic Composite application
 Building Boards
Building boards are a group of
building materials often faced with paper
or vynil, suitable for use as a finished
surface on walls, ceiling, etc.
Building boards are flat, relatively thin in
section, and have been made to standard
sizes – usually 4 x 8 feet.
 Kinds of Building Boards
• Plywood • Strawboard
• Hardwood • Asbestos-cement board
• Insulating fiberboard • Corkboard
• Chipboard • Paperboard
• Particle board • Mineral fiberboard
• Gypsum board • Plastic foamboards
 Building Boards: Plywood
Plywood is made by bonding Rotary cutting – a log is fixed in
together thin layers of wood in a lathe and rotated against a knife
way that the grain of each layer is so that the veneer is peeled from
at right angles to the grain of the the log in continuous sheet.
adjacent layer.
Each layer of a plywood is called
a veneer, and commonly made by
rotary cutting.
Building Boards: Plywood
Types of Plywood:
• Marine plywood
• Fancy plywood
• Ordinary plywood
• Form plywood
• Pre-finished plywood paneling
 Building Boards: Hardboard
Hardboard is made from processed wood
chips. They are uniform, hard, grainless
sheets, smooth and with overlaps. They are
used in interior panels and durable sidings.
Unlike solid wood, hardboard is very
homogenous with no grain. A wood veneer
can be glued onto it to give the appearance of
solid wood. Other overlays include Formica,
laminated papers, ceramics, and vynils.
Formica Laminate is a laminated composite material invented at
the Westinghouse Electric Corporation in the United States in 1912. Originally
used to replace mica in electrical applications, it has since been manufactured
for multiple applications. It has been produced by Formica Group
manufacturing sites across the globe since. Formica Group are best known for
the company's classic product: a heat-resistant, wipe-
clean laminate of paper with melamine resin.
 Building Boards: Hardboard
Grades of Hardboard:
• Standard – light, flexible to be quite easily bent, light brown in color and not
suitable for exterior work
• Tempered hardboard – brittle and stiff but resistant to water penetration,
dark brown in color, ideal for exterior use.
• Low density – not as strong and durable as standard and tempered, for
decorative boards and often used as blackboards.
 Building Boards: Hardboard

Standard hardboard Tempered hardboard

 Building Boards: Insulating Fiberboard
Insulating fiberboard is made from three types of fiber – wood, sugar cane,
asbestos, and binder, formed into a board.
 Building Boards: Insulating Fiberboard
Two basic grades:
• Insulating grade – made up for insulating, decorative panels and ceiling
tiles, V-notch plaster base, and roof insulation
• Sheathing Grade – surfaces and edges are coated with asphalt and/or with
fibers impregnated with asphalt during manufacture.
 Building Boards: Insulating Fiberboard
Kinds of insulating fiberboard:
• Wood fibers – produced by pressing logs against a grindstone which breaks
down the wood into fibers.
• Mineral fiberboard – made from asbestos mixed with cementing agent ideal
for fireproofing and acoustical purposes.
• Cane fiberboard – shredded cane and processed into fibers
 Building Boards: Insulating Fiberboard

Wood fibers Mineral fiberboard Cane fiberboard

 Building Boards: Chipboard
Chipboard is made from building board particles and a binder (phenolic
resin/urea formaldehyde glue) often faced with veneer.
It is often used both for interior and exterior which include sheathing for walls
and roof, subflooring, and fence paneling.
Subtypes are:
• Plain – may be unsanded, sanded on one side only, or sanded on two sides
• Patterned – have one grooved surface either evenly or random
Building Boards: Chipboard
 Building Boards: Particle board
A particle board is a hardboard made
from relatively small particles,
graduated from coarse at the center of
the board to fine at the surface to
produce a product with a smooth dense
surface.

The particle board is also called a

chipboard.
 Building Boards: Gypsum board
Gypsum board is a panel made from gypsum plaster pressed between two
thick sheets of paper. It is used to make interior walls and ceilings.
 Building Boards: Gypsum board
Varitions:
• Special paper face where a variety of wood patterns can be printed and
can be nailed with colored nails.
• Glue laminated to an interior surface to produce a wood-grain effect.
• Vynil sheet faced made to imitate a textile surface held by glue, aluminum,
or plastic moldings.
 Building Boards: Strawboard
Strawboard is hardboard made of
compressed wheat straw, processed
at 350°F - 400°F with tough Kraft
paper.
A stawboard is a kind of
Envirowall panel made of 100%
waste straw.
 Building Boards: Strawboard
Grades of Strawboard:
• Structural bond – used for non-bearing partitions, plaster base, insulating
purposes, exterior sheathing, roof decking, and inner form face for concrete
basement wall.
• Insulation grade – intended primarily for roof deck insulation .
 Building Boards: Asbestos Cement Board
Asbestos cement board is a dense, rigid
board containing high proportion of asbestos
fibers bonded with Portland cement.
Resistant to fire, flame and weathering, and
has low resistance to heat flow.
It is used as building material in sheet form
and corrugated sheeting. All types must be
drilled for insertion of screws, bolts, and
other fasteners.
 Building Boards: Corkboard
Corkboard is made from the outer
bark of the cork oak tree, cork granules
are mixed with synthetic resin,
compressed and formed into sheet
from 1-6 inches thick, and baked under
pressure into rigid boards.
Used exclusively as thermal insulating
material and for vibration control.
 Building Boards: Paperboard
Paperboard is paper pulp pressed
into boards 3/16” or ¼” thick wide,
and 4’ wide, and 6’-8’ long. Usually
one surface is primed for easier
finishing.
It can also be a layer of stiff paper
folded on corrugated form and faced
on both sides with thick paper
backing, cemented to the core.
Building Boards: Paperboard
 Building Boards: Mineral fiberboard
Mineral fiberboard is a thick mat of
mineral fibers (glass with rock wool)
covered with a backing of stiff paper
on one or both sides to form rigid
boards, ranging in thickness from ½
to 2 inches.
The usual board size is 24”x48” and
are used for roof deck insulation and
are cemented to the deck with asphalt
adhesive.
 Building Boards: Plastic foam boards
Plastic foam boards are usually polystyrene and
polyurethane plastics formed by a patented
process to about 40 times their original volume.
This foamed material is molded into boards from
½ - 3” thick, 12” or 24” wide and from 4ft to 12 ft
long.
 Building Boards: Plastic foam boards
Plastic foam boards are used for
perimeter insulation for concrete slabs,
for wall and roof-deck insulation, and for
roof decks when properly supported.
These plastic boards have high insulation
value and relatively high compressive
strength, and are flexible enough to fit
over curved surfaces.
 Pre-engineered Structures/Buildings
• Pre Engineered Building is a metal
building enclosure system that often
involves a structural framework and also
involves roofing and wall cladding and is
built and assembled in the factory premises.
• PEB is manufactured using the raw materials
available from all sources and manufacturing
methods that can effectively meet a wide range
of structural and esthetic design requirements.
 Pre-engineered Structures/Buildings
Pre Engineered Buildings (PEBs)
are extremely durable, weather as
well as termite proof. Due to their
longer life of utility and affordable
cost, manufactured homes can be
used for permanent, semi permanent
or temporary applications.
 Pre-engineered Structures/Buildings:
Types of PEBs
• Prefabricated
Workshops and Shelters
• Prefabricated Homes
 Pre-engineered Structures/Buildings:
Advantages
• Low cost if choosing manufacturer’s standard package/inventory and no add-on.
• Open clear span
• Can be easily expanded to grow with needs
• Self-supporting ready-made components are used, so the need for formwork,
shuttering, and scaffolding is greatly reduced.
• On-site construction and congestion is minimized.
• Time spent due to bad weather or hazardous environments at the construction is
minimized.
 Pre-engineered Structures/Buildings:
Disadvantages
• May not include all construction/fit-up needed for the building to serve the
intended purpose.
• Usually no internal finished walls
• Leaks can form at joints in prefabricated components
• Large prefabricated sections require heavy-duty cranes and precision
measurement from handling in place to position.
• Larger group of buildings from the same type of prefabricated elements
tend to look drab and monotonous.
 PEBs vs. Conventional Structures
Prefab structures are fabricated in workshop which reduces the required
construction time. However, in case of conventional structure there is no
precise control over construction time. In the PEBs, ready-made components
are used, so the need for formwork, shuttering and scaffolding is greatly
reduced.
However in conventional construction, building components constructed at
site requiring formwork, shuttering and scaffolding. There is minimal effect of
climatic or weather conditions in case of PEBs while in conventional
construction, time spent due to bad weather or hazardous environments at the
construction site increases the construction cost and project completion time.
 PEBs vs. Conventional Structures
In the PEBs, fabrication unit can be located
where skilled labour is readily available and costs
of labour, power, materials, space and overheads
are lower. However in conventional
construction, construction cost depends upon
location, zone, climatic condition & availability
of material & man power.
Prefab structures are designed lighter section in
comparison to conventional structure.
 Pre-engineered Structures/Buildings:
Components
• Primary framing (main frames)
• Secondary framing (Z and C sections)
• Roof and wall panels
• Structural subsystems (canopies,
partitions, etc.)
• Floor systems (catwalks, platforms)
• Other building accessories (sliding
doors, roll up doors, windows, etc.)
 Pre-engineered Structures/Buildings:
Standard Framing System

• Most commonly symmetrical about the ridge line.

• Framing systems with unequal width modules are also possible, given they
are symmetrical
• Practically any frame geometry is possible
Pre-engineered Structures/Buildings:
Standard Framing System
Pre-engineered Structures/Buildings:
Standard Framing System
End of Module 03